This invention has to do generally with moulded enclosures of the kind widely used for industrial or home devices, such as telephones, radios, etc.
It would be of advantage to be able to attach an adjunct enclosure to an existing set which lacked any pre-designed features to allow attachment. In the past, additional hardware would have to be provided to co-locate the two parts, thus adding to the cost and complexity of the installation.
The main feature of this invention allows an adjunct enclosure to be attached to a host enclosure utilizing a common detail on the host enclosure, that detail being the recessed screw hole employed to hide the screws that hold the host enclosure together. This can be accomplished without requiring any change to the host enclosure or disassembly of the screws on the host enclosure.
More particularly, this invention provides, to facilitate the attachment of an adjunct part to a host part, in which the host part exhibits a recess with an internal surface:
the combination, with the adjunct part, of a resilient boss projecting from the adjunct part and adapted to enter said recess, the boss having an axially extending opening to receive a threaded tightening member, the boss and the threaded tightening member further having configurations which allow said tightening member, as it advances into the boss along said opening, to resiliently urge portions of said boss radially outward into binding contact with the internal surface of the recess, thereby fastening the adjunct part to the host part.
Further, this invention provides a method of attaching an adjunct part to a host part, in which the host part exhibits a recess with an internal surface, the adjunct part having a resilient boss projecting from the adjunct part and adapted to enter said recess, the boss having an axially extending opening to receive a threaded tightening member, the boss and the threaded tightening member further having configurations which allow said tightening member, as it advances into the boss along said opening, to resiliently urge portions of said boss radially outward,
the method including the steps:
a) inserting the boss into the recess, and
b) screwing said threaded tightening member into said opening, so that as the tightening member advances into the boss along said opening, said portions of the boss are urged radially outward into binding contact with the internal surface of the recess, thereby fastening the adjunct part to the host part.
Finally, this invention provides, in combination, a host part exhibiting a recess with an internal surface,
an adjunct part having a resilient boss projecting from the adjunct part and received within said recess, the boss having an axially extending opening in which is screwed a threaded tightening member, the boss and the threaded tightening member having configurations such that said tightening member, screwed fully into said opening, resiliently urges portions of said boss radially outward into binding contact with the internal surface of said recess, thereby fastening the adjunct part to the host part.